Using Strengths to Accelerate Performance

Gallup research has proven that the best way to develop employees — and net the greatest return on investment — is to identify the ways in which they most naturally think, feel, and behave, then build upon those talents to create strengths — the ability to provide consistent, near-perfect performance. Our strengths consultants are leading-edge specialists dedicated to partnering with organizations to align vital human resource functions with crucial business and organization needs.

Our Value
Discover What’s Right With People, Then Build on It

Gallup’s highly refined development science is based on more than 30 years of research. Understanding and building on each employee’s most powerful talents is key to creating an effective onboarding and development strategy. Our consultants support managers to understand, engage, and build upon their employees’ greatest talents — and in the process, building individual, team, and organizational strengths.

All organizations seek to improve performance. To get there, though, far too many follow conventional wisdom: Focus on fixing weaknesses. Find what’s wrong with your people and try to correct it. Unfortunately, that “wisdom” leaves them struggling on the path to mediocrity.

A growing number of organizations have learned that although weaknesses can’t be overlooked — and must be managed — fixating on weakness is a mistake.

What happens when people operate from their strengths? They are more fulfilled and more effective. In a workplace, these employees are six times more likely to be engaged in their role.

Our research indicates that people who are not operating from strengths at work probably:

dread going to work

have more negative than positive interactions with coworkers

treat customers poorly

tell friends they work for a miserable organization

achieve less on a daily basis

have fewer positive and creative moments

Organizations that start by discovering an individual’s natural talents — then follow up by developing pertinent knowledge and skills — achieve a significant return on their investment.

Why Develop Strengths?

Our research shows that strengths development interventions can produce increases in employee engagement. Engagement, in turn, can improve business outcomes by boosting retention, productivity, profitability, customer engagement, and safety.

Over the past decade, Gallup has surveyed more than 10 million workers worldwide to gauge their engagement. Only one-third strongly agree with the statement, “At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.” In a Gallup Poll, among those who disagreed or strongly disagreed with this statement, not one single person was emotionally engaged on the job.

Analyses of our clients’ employee engagement scores show that workgroups that receive strengths development and employee engagement interventions achieve more robust growth in engagement scores than do groups that receive a standard engagement intervention without a strengths development component. Our studies also indicate that employees who have the opportunity to focus on their strengths every day are six times as likely to be engaged in their jobs and more than three times as likely to report having an excellent quality of life. A strengths development strategy not only can dramatically boost employee engagement, it can also substantially decrease disengagement.